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She's revered as a trail-blazing feminist and author Alice Walker touched the lives of a generation of women. A champion of women's rights, she has always argued that motherhood is a form of servitude. But one woman didn't buy in to Alice's beliefs - her daughter, Rebecca, 38. Here the writer describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a cultural icon, and why she feels so blessed to be the sort of woman 64-year-old Alice despises - a mother.

Bexley is not exactly the next Berkeley. Still, City Council members in Bexley are poised to ban protesters from picketing in front of any one particular home. An abortion doctor living in Bexley asked for the ban after picketers marched outside his home on Broad Street in May. Besides that doctor, a lot of corporate leaders live in Bexley and they, too, could be subject to such treatment, said Matt Lampke, the council's president. "They can protest in front of the corporation. They don't need to be protesting in front of their residence," Lampke said.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Poor women and children need food, health care and education, but the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is coming under fire for giving them abortions instead. The program's web site features a link to Planned Parenthood, the business that does about 25 percent of U.S. abortions. Pro-life blogger Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill of the Chaste, found the link at the USDA's WIC Learning Center, the official web site for the federal government's program."That's because a hefty chunk of the $5 billion in taxpayer funds for the program designed to help feed and...

July 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Campaign Life Coalition Canada (CLC) is hosting and co-sponsoring the International Pro-Life Conference, "Creating a Culture of Life Around the Globe," in Toronto October 2-4 with Life Canada and the International Right to Life Federation (IRTLF). Among the many notable speakers at this major conference will be Father Gerard Wilberforce, the great, great grandson of slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce. Jim Hughes, International Right to Life vice-president and president of Campaign Life Coalition Canada told LifeSiteNews that the conference is expected to be as exciting as the 2002 International conference with speakers from around the world....

In two previous campaigns by Christians to disrupt America's abortion industry with continuous prayer, officials with the 40 Days for Life campaign say 35,000 have participated in vigils, 514 babies have been saved and five abortion industry workers have lost their jobs. Now a third campaign is on the calendar, with a signup deadline of July 29 for cities to take part in the outreach. Most locations will have prayer warriors on the sidewalks outside abortion clinics 24 hours a day from Sept. 24 through Nov. 2. Spokesman David Bereit said the first campaigns have seen 150,000 people praying and...

...by Mary Eberstadt,  a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, is a great article in the August/September issue of First Things and is available online. I'll get you started: That Humanae Vitae and related Catholic teachings about sexual morality are laughingstocks in all the best places is not exactly news. Even in the benighted precincts of believers, where information from the outside world is known to travel exceedingly slowly, everybody grasps that this is one doctrine the world loves to hate. During Benedict XVI’s April visit to the United States, hardly a story in the secular press failed to mention...

Abortion's Aftershocks Interview With Author Michaelene Fredenburg By Karna Swanson SAN DIEGO, California, JULY 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- When a woman decides to abort, she mistakenly believes the procedure will erase the pregnancy and that life will return to normal, says the founder of a forum for those affected by abortion. Michaelene Fredenburg is the author of "Changed: Making Sense of Your Own or a Loved One's Abortion Experience," and founder of AbortionChangesYou.com, an Internet site that seeks to help those who have been affected by abortion to face the tragic truth of their actions. In this interview with ZENIT, Fredenburg...

Washington, DC -- There is no woman in the world who grows up thinking she will have an abortion one day. Whatever the reason for the abortion -- feeling they have no other option or pressure from a partner or others -- many women feel significant guilt and shame. Sheila Harper learned the hard way when she chose abortion as a teenager, carrying around debilitating emotions that led to drugs, alcohol and even a suicide attempt. For seven years, author Harper carried with her the shame and humiliation of her abortion. Eventually she found deliverance through God’s abundant grace and...

He does not include these little persons in his claims to care about the poor and his concern for the immigrants. Yet, they are, in the words of a great treasure of our age, the late “Mother” now “Blessed” Teresa of Calcutta, the “poorest of the poor”. These little boys and girls are being evicted from their first home every day by the thousands. No, they are actually being killed, burned, and dismembered, in a war on the womb being waged with surgical strikes and chemical weapons. And, he supports it all, calling this evil a “right”. Frankly, I can...

July 24, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "My God is a Goddess with golden breasts, dripping milk and honey. A suckling baby am I, nursing at the golden breast." So writes Dr. Henry Morgentaler, Canada's father of abortion, in one of the poems found in his self-published book of poetry, "Freedom is my Passion."With Morgentaler having burst once again onto the public stage in recent weeks, after being awarded Canada's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada, many people are questioning who exactly Henry Morgentaler is, and what his legacy has been.While news coverage of the abortion doctor over the years...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading pro-life group that monitors international issues says the problem of sex-selection abortions could be lessened if pro-abortion activists got involved. But the Population Research Institute says the blather of protecting women and their health appears to stop at the border's edge.In a new YouTube video the group has released, PRI president Steven Mosher decries the practice, common in East and South Asian countries, of sex-selective abortion."In China, India, and other Asian countries, there is a strong preference for boys," Mosher told LifeNews.com. "This combination of a preference for boys and modern technology--the ultrasound...

The Risk of Love July 23rd, 2008 by Mark Shea Recently a reader wrote me to say, “I read a story on the Internet about a Catholic couple whose new baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and anencephaly (no brain). They chose to abort it. How on earth would you deal pastorally with such a horrible situation?” Such questions involve several parts. What does God think? What would I do? What should I make of those people over there? We feel torn between obeying God’s commands “Don’t kill” and “Don’t judge.” And in our culture, “Don’t judge” has much the...

• At least half of American women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45, and, at current rates, about one-third will have had an abortion. • Forty-three percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% as Catholic. • Women who have never married obtain two-thirds of all abortions. • Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. counties lacked an abortion provider in 2005; 35% of women live in those counties. • In the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court ruled that women, in consultation with their physician, have a constitutionally protected right to have an abortion...

WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The chairman of the U.S. bishops pro-life committee says an issue is being discussed by members of Congress that should be a matter of agreement between "pro-lifers" and "pro-choicers": respect of conscience. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the bishops' Committee for Pro-Life Activities, affirmed this in a letter Friday to members of Congress. The cardinal's letter responded to a debate that arose when the New York Times reported on July 15 that it had a draft of proposed federal regulations on the conscience rights of health care providers. According to the Times...

Hollywood, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Sherri Shepherd, a co-host of the popular women's television program "The View," said in a recent interview that she's had numerous abortions. She says that she didn't began to change her promiscuous behavior until she became a Christian.In the interview with Precious Times, a magazine for black Christian women, Shepherd, who is 41, said she was "sleeping with a lot of guys and had more abortions than I would like to count.""I felt if someone killed me, it wouldn't even make a difference," she said, talking about how the abortions and other problems caused a...

South Dakota is only the first State to pass such legislation. many must follow. The legislation was well drafted and supported by a record of legislative findings of fact that includes unassailable medical science which unequivocally affirms that children in the womb are, in fact, human beings and therefore persons. The legislation had and still has overwhelming popular support. That is why it survived efforts by “pro-choice” (read “pro-feticide”) extremists to defeat it through a referendum. Several other States are now said to be ready to follow this example. Some within the pro-life community have speculated that such a courageous...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One year ago this week, Barack Obama promised activists with the nation's largest abortion business that the first thing he would do as president is overturn every pro-life law in all 50 states. He said his first action would be signing the mislabeled Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). The measure, if it becomes law, would codify Roe v. Wade by making the infamous Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited abortions the law of the land. But it would go further and overturn hundreds of state laws that have put limits on abortion like parental involvement, partial-birth abortion...

By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, DC, July 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews.com sat down with Brian Johnston, Western Director for the National Right to Life Committee for an interview yesterday, in which Johnston stressed that current Democratic Presidential candidate Barak Hussein Obama is even more radical on abortion than Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. “Right now at this moment in history the one thing that in the United States of America every citizen can impact is the destiny of our nation,� began Johnston. “And that is through the Presidential race. The next President is likely going to...

'The View' host Sherri Shepherd covers the latest issue of 'Precious Times' magazine. In an eight-page feature story in the Christian women's lifestyle publication, the 41-year-old comedienne shares candid revelations about her faith, including her conversion from being a Jehovah's Witness to Christianity. "Before I converted to Christianity, I was a Jehovah's Witness. In 1993, my mother was dying from diabetic complications. My sister was heavy into drugs, and we would have to go and get her from crack houses. I was in a very physically abusive relationship. I was sleeping with a lot of guys and had more abortions...

Thank you for inviting me to address the 2008 National Right to Life Convention, I'm sorry I'm not able to be there in person to address you. More than two-hundred years ago our nation's founders declared, that we are endowed by our Creator, with certain and unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was no accident, that they cited life as the first, and most basic right. For without recognition of the right to life, we are not guaranteed any other rights. Sometimes all wisdom asks of us, is that we recognize...

Green, OH (LifeNews.com) -- Local pro-life advocates in this city near Akron successfully got local officials to evict an abortion business that set up shop near a legitimate medical center. Formerly known as Ohio Women's Center, G&H Healthcare served as an abortion business in the city of Green in Summit County.G&H was located in an office complex and, according to Judith Hoyt, an officer with Summit County Right to Life, the neighboring medical center received constant questions about whether it did abortions."The Fresenius Medical Care Center located next door to the G&H Healthcare clinic became offended when several people...

Planned Parenthood Association’s (PPA) political action committee released a new TV ad slamming presidential candidate Senator McCain for his opposition to abortion and his “indifference” to insurers covering erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra. The charge of “indifference” was leveled after McCain admitted a lack of expertise on the topic. “I don’t know enough about it to give you an informed answer,” McCain replied when asked whether it was fair for insurers to pay for Viagra. “I guess that would be something for the insurers and their customers to work out on their own.” “The indifference, the ignorance, it’s astounding,” exclaimed...

"Before I converted to Christianity, I was a Jehovah's Witness. In 1993, my mother was dying from diabetic complications. My sister was heavy into drugs, and we would have to go and get her from crack houses. I was in a very physically abusive relationship. I was sleeping with a lot of guys and had more abortions than I would like to count. I had very low self-esteem and just wanted to die. I felt if someone killed me, it wouldn't even make a difference. But God showed me that it would make a difference," she told the glossy.

More than 100 members of Congress wrote President Bush today, urging him to "halt all action" on a proposal they argue would change the definition of abortion, and drastically limit women's access to birth control. The Department of Health and Human Services draft proposal, which began circulating around Capitol Hill last week, would require hospitals receiving federal funds to certify that, in their hiring, they do not discriminate against people who refuse to provide forms of contraception, such as birth control pills, due to personal religious beliefs. The proposal immediately incited an uproar among Democratic lawmakers led by Sen. Hillary...

Sioux Falls, SD -- Monday was the first day that Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion business in South Dakota, had to comply with a new state law telling women the truth about abortion. Rather than tell women abortion kills children and has numerous risks, Planned Parenthood closed its doors. The state law, which the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld last week, required abortion practitioners to inform every woman that she is terminating the life of a human being. It requires giving her information about the mental health complications such as a high risk of depression and suicide...

Contraception and Cultural Chaos — Part 1 of 6 July 21st, 2008 by Christopher West This July 25th marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most controversial papal documents in history: Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae which reaffirmed the traditional Christian teaching on the immorality of contraception. If you have wrestled with this teaching, believe me, I can relate. Years ago I almost left the Church over it. Forty years of perspective provide an opportunity to take another look. That’s what I’ll be doing in [the next] several columns.You may have noticed above that I said “traditional Christian teaching”...

Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) -- Several states have dealt with the problem of judges routinely approving requests for a judicial bypass so teens can get abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent. Now, an Ohio judge has admitted she's never denied a single request from a teen to get around the parental involvement law.The National Right to Life Committee indicates 37 states have parental consent or notification laws and 29 are currently in effect, including Ohio. Most have a Supreme Court-mandated judicial bypass for the rare instances where girls may be victimized by their parents.Hundreds of hearings take place before...

GLASGOW, Scotland, July 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The work of the Church to protect the unborn, to assist "frightened young" pregnant women and to help to "secure a better standard of living and greater opportunities for the poor," far from being mutually exclusive, are closely interrelated works that cannot be separated from each other, according to the Catholic bishop of Motherwell.Joseph Devine, the fourth bishop of the diocese that encompasses parts of Glasgow in Scotland, said, "Indeed, a nation that condemns to abortion our beautiful and blameless unborn babies betrays itself as morally, ethically and politically untrustworthy and disinclined...

In a ruling that surprised some observers, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of a pro-life group to display photos showing the bodies of babies dismembered during abortions. The conservative Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., had brought suit on behalf of the Center for Bioethical Reform (CBR), a California pro-life group. The case involved police detention for 75 minutes of two CBR pro-life activists who in March circled Rancho Palos Verdes Middle School in Los Angeles, driving a large truck displaying on three sides photos of aborted babies. School...

For years misguided intellectuals and social scientists have advised us to abandon the values, principles and work ethic that have made our country great and instead to embrace pacifism, fuzzy science, genocide of the unborn, acceptance of immoral behavior and generational guilt. It is sad that during one of our nation’s greatest celebrations, that we have to be reprimanded for our historical actions and urged as a nation to adopt an apologist marketing strategy to “Reintroduce America”, and sadly supported by the July 2, 2008 Bonanza columnist who has determined that people in other countries “fear” or “disrespect” Americans. My...

Father, we come before You thanking You for every time You use us, another being, an event or occurance to stop even one child from being aborted. Father we praise Your name and rejoice when the TRUTH is told and Your LIGHT shines forth in the darkness! Lord, thank You for bringing the voices of the post-abortives forth to speak Your TRUTH. Bless Dan and Julie Zanoza for sharing their story and their truth with those who will listen or read it. Give them and others the courage to stand up and be heard. May those words go forth to...

I have been asked to be involved in a new website that we named adoptnotabort.org. The plan is to create a wealth of information in addition to a place where married couples (man and woman) can create a profile and reach out to a woman to allow them to adopt, rather than killing her baby. A friend of mine named Vanessa is a very active Catholic in the pro-life movement. Here is an email from her that warmed my heart. We also discussed, when the website gets up and running, that the woman tell her story. Vanessa promised that the...

Security guards block Truth Truck from leaving parking lot, help abortion-bound women see the horrific truth about abortionContact: Troy Newman, President, 316-841-1700; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue, info@operationrescue.orgST. LOUIS, MO., July 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- Operation Rescue's Truth Truck, driven by Mark Gietzen, caused a stir the St. Louis Planned Parenthood abortion mill on Saturday, July 19, 2008, when he drove onto their parking lot and parked near the front door as abortion-bound women entered the facility.Security guards for Planned Parenthood immediately rushed to close the parking lot's iron gates to prevent the Truth Truck from leaving while...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Abortion may not be the leading national issue according to the polls but it is a top one to many social conservatives, and Republican John McCain increasingly is going out of his way to make his pro-life views known, even saying at one town hall forum that pro-lifers could count on him being an "active" advocate for the unborn. In at least two town hall forums in recent days, McCain has turned questions not directly related to abortion into answers about his pro-life views. Each time, his answers were one of his biggest applause lines, with many...

SCALIA THE ENEMYby Judie BrownReleased May 28, 2008It came as no surprise when a dear friend, Andy V. of Minnesota, wrote me concerning a comment Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made during an interview with Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes on April 27. Since I never watch network programming, which is, I presume, a blessing, I simply had no idea what the Catholic Scalia had said. Perhaps you did, but in case you are uninformed, the following is from the transcript of that interview:"What is the connection between your Catholicism, your Jesuit education, and your judicial philosophy?" Stahl asks. "It...

"Cities across America are applying to participate in the fall 2008 nationally coordinated 40 Days for Life campaign – a focused initiative that promises to be the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history," said David Bereit, national campaign director of 40 Days for Life. "Abortion claims more than 1.2 million innocent lives in the United States each year," he added, "and in 2008, the stakes for our nation are higher than ever. People of faith and conscience are approaching this challenge with a heightened sense of urgency." 40 Days for Life is a community-based campaign that features 40...

A Minnesota conservative is calling for an end to the tax-exempt status and public financing of the country’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. According to Planned Parenthood's latest annual report, the organization received more than $1 billion from revenues -- nearly one-third of that figure came from "government grants and contracts." In light of that report, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) became outraged when she learned of Planned Parenthood's new branding effort in her Minnesota district. She says the new strategy is a move away from helping poor women with family planning, and instead involves targeting latte-drinking, affluent women across America....

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading pro-life women's group told members of Congress and their staff this week that women across the country lack pregnancy helps and resources. Feminists for Life of America says the need is particularly acute for college students without good campus resources.The organization held a special workshop on Tuesday to help Congressional staff understand the problem and encourage more support in upcoming legislation.While many college students who become pregnant might prefer to keep their baby and parent while they complete their education, Serrin Foster, the head of the group, says most universities make that task...

The wrong woman was given a chemical abortion tablet after a nurse mixed up two patients with the same first name, a misconduct hearing heard today. Ann Downer gave the drug to the woman who had only gone into her clinic for an initial consultation. She had not decided to have a termination when the nurse gave her the drug. When staff realised what had happened the distraught woman was called back to the clinic in pain and doctors subsequently advised her to undergo a surgical abortion. Miss Downer, 44, should have administered the drug to a second patient who...

Wichita, Jul 18, 2008 / 05:55 pm (CNA).- A sixteen-year-old Kansas girl was allegedly forced by her mother to undergo an abortion on Wednesday at an abortion clinic run by the notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller. Reportedly both the teenage girl and the baby’s father, who was also sixteen, objected to the abortion. The young father arrived at the clinic too late to stop the abortion, a pro-life group says. According to an incident report from the Kansas Coalition for Life (KCFL) the sixteen-year-old girl was two months pregnant. Her mother brought her to the Women’s Health Care Services...

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, July 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain came out swinging at Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama at a town hall meeting in Kansas City Missouri over the latter's stand on abortion, reports the Wall Street Journal.McCain brought up his pro-life record on abortion at the meeting on Thursday, after a discussion about the problem of sexually graphic material on the internet."I also would like to say one other thing very quickly to you - that is, I am proud of my record of protecting and advocating the rights of the unborn. I believe...

LifeNews.com Note: Dan and Julie Zanoza reside in Illinois, where Dan is the executive director of Republicans for Fair Media. A version of the following column first appeared in the Christian Coalition magazine and has also appeared in the Illinois Leader.Nearly thirty years ago, my wife and I aborted a child. That decision will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Since that time, I've developed deep feelings on the subject of abortion.There are two primary reasons why I'm pro-life. Besides taking a human life, aborting a child robs society.Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, some say...

The best, the most pointed and comprehensive opinion on the award of the Order of Canada pin to Henry Morgentaler, in the course of this long grim week, was by Ian Hunter in the National Post: “In old Canada, Morgentaler was prosecuted and sent to jail for performing illegal abortions. But that was in another era and, as far as I'm concerned, another country -- a country as dead as any of the recipients of Morgentaler’s attentions.” I shall say something about that award tomorrow. For today I want to focus on the New Canada -- the one that is...

NEA Family Feud by: Bethany Stotts, July 18, 2008 It’s that time again. The National Education Association teacher’s union met in Washington, D.C. over July 4th week for its annual convention and to endorse Barack Obama for president. Obama has drawn criticism from pro-life groups for his strongly pro-choice stance, having declared in 2007 that “the first thing I’d do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” which would overturn state restrictions on abortion. Following in this pro-choice vein, the NEA convention also once again upheld the original language of Resolution I-15, which “supports family planning, including the...

The first time I learned about the practice I was horrified. It was the mid-1990s. The source was Sharon Dunsmore, a nurse in a hospital NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) who wrote a small booklet about the experience. One day on the job she had been summoned “stat” to the delivery room to deal with an “oops abortion”—a failed abortion in which the baby unexpectedly survived, or, as Dunsmore quoted the pediatrician on the scene, “had the audacity to survive.” The team struggled as to whether to continue intubating the child—now a little boy, not a “fetus”—who clearly was not...

CNSNews.comNAACP Urged to Help De-Fund Planned ParenthoodThursday, July 17, 2008By Randy Hall, Staff Writer/Editor Dr. Alveda King (CNSNews.com) - Dozens of pastors and pro-life activists attending the 99th annual NAACP conference in Cincinnati this week are calling on that organization to help de-fund the nation’s largest abortion provider. “Racism lives at Planned Parenthood,” said Dr. Alveda King, pastoral associate of the group Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during a rally on Monday. “I say to my fellow NAACP members: It's time we tell the government to stop funding racism. "Planned Parenthood will gladly accept donations...

If someone wiped out the entire African-American population in Oakland, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., the number still wouldn't equal the number of black babies lost to abortion in one year: 683,294. According to the Allan Guttmacher Institute, African-American women are nearly five times more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost one in every two African-American pregnancies ends in abortion. These are facts, say pro-life blacks, that the NAACP can't afford to ignore. On July 14, the pro-lifers—including Alveda King (niece of Martin Luther King Jr.) and Clenard...

Protectors of the innocent unborn need to prepare for the impending assault on the right to life, this time waged under the banner of stopping "domestic violence." Actually, the first volley has already been fired. Democratic senator Barack Obama recently announced his support of the proposed International Violence Against Women Act, a bill the Family Violence Prevention Fund admits is designed to solidify "women's access to reproductive health service." Mr. Obama is not the first to cloak the reproductive rights agenda in the domestic violence crusade. For years the rad-fems have been working behind the scenes, laying the groundwork for...

Sydney, Australia (LifeNews.com) -- At the welcoming ceremony for the opening of World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, the pope told tens of thousands of young people that they have a responsibility to protect human life. Pope Benedict XVI told cheering throngs of students and young adults that they need to stand up against abortion. Addressing a crowd estimated at 150,000 people, the Catholic leader said that newfound enthusiasm for protecting the environment must be match by an equal vigor to protect human life. "At the heart of the marvel of creation are you and I, the human family, 'crowned...

Billings, MT (LifeNews.com) -- Girls Inc. is back in the news over abortion and now the group for young women is teaming up with Planned Parenthood. The organization, which has come under fire for adopting a pro-abortion position, is conducting workshops in Montana with the nation's largest abortion business. The girls group came under fire in 2005 for adopting a statement saying it backs abortion and supports the Roe v. Wade decision that ushered in an era of approximately 50 million abortions.At the time, pro-life groups called for a boycott of the American Girl doll because the company making...